The existence of floating debris in waterways is a natural occurance and is as common as waterways themselves. Floating debris has always been a nuisance to man, and he has continually investigated more effective means for removal of said floating debris. Most of the methods for removal of debris are effective when dealing with the removal of large accumulations of debris. However, the major problem in removal of floating debris has been how to effectively remove relatively small amounts of debris randomly floating on the surface of waterways and not yet collected.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an effective and efficient method of collecting randomly floating debris, and the subsequent removal of said debris from the waterways.
It should be pointed out that randomly floating debris has never been much of a concern of man. Man has, in the past, simply ignored the nuisance of such randomly floating debris and allowed nature to solve this problem in her usual way. However, in the most recent past, with the advent of the bulk transporation of oil by waterways, the oil slick has come into existence, an oil slick being defined as a thin layer of hydrocarbon, sometimes as thin as one molecule, spread across the surface of a body of water.
It has been well established by environmentalists that in order to prevent long lasting detrimental effects to the environment, the oil slick must be removed from the surface of the waterway. Although there are many methods available for the removal of an oil slick, most are seriously hampered by the presence of randomly floating debris. The natural affinity that oil has for the surface of floating debris causes the oil to attach itself to the surface of all the floating debris within the oil slick area. Therefore, the randomly floating debris must be removed in order to effectuate the complete removal of the oil from the waterway, and terminate the detrimental effects caused by the oil in the waterway.
Therefore, it is the object of the present invention to provide an effective and efficient method for removal of debris, the surface of which has been coated with oil from the surface of a waterway.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus whereby regardless of the depth of the water or the density of the floating debris or its interaction with an oil slick, the oil and the debris can be removed efficiently and safely from the body of water.
The present invention is capable of sweeping the oil slick into the area that is thick in surface debris thereby allowing the oil to accumulate onto the surface of the debris. Then, the present invention is capable of removing the debris from the surface of the water without having to remove large quantities of water at the same time. In the past the beneficial effects of using an air jet produced from a machine such as an air boat have been used to blow or sweep the oil slick onto the debris that has accumulated on the shores of a waterway. However, great problems have arisen in attempts to anchor the air boat such that a stronger jet of air can be forced in the sweeping operation. The use of anchors have caused great time delays in attempts to unseat the anchors once they have become firmly embedded in the waterway bottom. Additionally, spuds have been positioned on opposite sides of the air boat and sunk sufficiently deep into the bed of the river or waterway to prevent movement of the vessel. These, too, are very time-consuming in getting them positioned correctly, as well as removal after the particular sweep has been made. The present invention with its interaction of scooping mechanism which can be tilted so as the prongs of the scoop can be embedded into the floor of the waterway offers great advantages in quickly setting for a sweep and quickly relocating to make another sweep.
In the past once the oil has been blown into a cul-de-sac or other accumulation area in which much debris has accumulated, workmen were required to either paddle out in flat bottom boats or wade out and pick up each individual piece of driftwood and other debris individually, load it into the boat, and then transport the boat to shore and unload the boat. By use of the present invention this is eliminated in that once the sweep has been made and the oil is accumulated on the various debris along the shore or in the cul-de-sac or in other accumulated areas, the scooping mechanism can be lowered below the surface of the water, a forward thrust created by the air boat can be used to force the prongs of the scoop beneath the surface of the debris regardless of how shallow the water is. At this point, the debris can be accumulated in the scoop and piled up against the back of the scoop. Because the scoop is made of prongs, it will not retain water thereby allowing a greater weight of debris to be carried to shore with each run of the boat. Another very advantageous aspect of the present invention is that when the debris is to be lifted from the surface of the water with the air boat still trying to make forward progress into the debris, an air foil, horizontally positioned behind the propeller, can be positioned so as to cause a jet stream to be forced upward, thereby countebalancing the weight of the scoop as it comes out of the water. This interaction allows the boatmen to maintain the deck level for greater safety as well as for a greater weight per load of the scooping mechanism. Once the loaded scoop has been raised above the surface of the water, by interaction of the hydrofoil and the revolutions per minute of the motor, the boat can be maneuvered so as to glide up and over the debris located in front of the boat and onto the shore where the load can be dumped into a container or on to the shore.
Therefore it is an object of the present invention to provide a method of counterbalancing the weight of the debris lifted by the scoop.
Various other objectives, distinctions and advantageous features of the invention will become apparent from the description of the preferred embodiment below.